COTABATO CITY— Education stakeholders and other members of the academe in Cotabato City Division convened in this city on Wednesday, Nov. 9, as the Bangsamoro Government’s pre-education summit officially kicked-off.
Led by the Ministry of Basic, Higher, and Technical Education (MBHTE), the event is designed to ensure that education stakeholders in the city, especially the local school boards, can meaningfully contribute to the upcoming regional education summit slated on December 5-6 in Davao City.
As he welcomed the participants, Benjamin Wahab, officer-in-charge School Governance and Operation Division of Cotabato Schools Division, expressed their readiness to join the Government of the Day’s vision for the Bangsamoro learners.
“Schools Division of Cotabato City is ever-ready and passionate among other divisions to instill the battlecry for the Bangsamoro learners na walang batang Bangsamoro na mapag iiwanan In shaa Allah,” Wahab said.
Wahab affirmed that Cotabato City Division will do all necessary actions and formulate steps for the betterment of each area of responsibility for the children’s education needs.
To ensure that all education stakeholders are well-represented in the pre-summit, a number of selected students were invited to join. One of them is Grade 12 student Datu Farouk Ampatuan of Cotabato City National High School main campus.
Being a Regional Federation President of the Supreme Student Government, Ampatuan expressed his gratitude to the education sectors for giving them a chance to amplify their voices in the policy formulation.
“We are thankful to the Bangsamoro Government for giving us a chance to solicit our ideas particularly on the programs that would help us,” the student said.
While Wednesday’s pre-summit focused on Cotabato School Division, MBHTE shared that the same event would be happening as follows: Nov. 11 – Special Geographic Area (SGA), Nov. 18 –Marawi City, Nov. 19 – Lanao del Sur, Nov. 22 – Tawi-Tawi, Nov. 24 – Lamitan City, Nov. 25 – Basilan, Nov. 28 – Sulu, and Nov. 30 – Maguindanao provinces.
The activity was made possible with the leadership of SDS Cotabato City OIC Sarapia Guiamaden- Talapas, Cotabato City Government Mohammad Ali Matabalao, in partnership with United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and Pathways to Peace. (Abdullah Matucan/BIO)
